e-NABLE Code of Conduct
e-NABLE Code of Conduct
For e-NABLE Volunteers and Chapters
It is important for all volunteers and chapters to adhere to a common set of operating guidelines, as outlined below. Please review the following guidance carefully, and then complete this short form to indicate your acceptance.
Guiding Principles
The e-NABLE community is fueled by mutual respect, support, and goodwill. For that reason, community culture is critical. So please keep the following guidelines in mind.
- Demonstrate respect for others at all times
- Embrace a spirit of sharing
- Question arguments, not motives
- Offer solutions as well as diagnoses
The e-NABLE community is open to everyone, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, or religion. All communication should be appropriate for a professional audience including people of many different backgrounds.
If a volunteer engages in behavior that violates this code of conduct, the e-NABLE leadership team may take any action they deem appropriate, including warning the offender or expulsion from the community.
As a non-commercial non-organization, e-NABLE promotes ethical practices and e-NABLE policies through moral suasion, and social constraint. People who knowingly abuse these policies may be called out in public.
We expect that providers of e-NABLE designs should acknowledge e-NABLE and honor all relevant licenses, many of which may similarly require acknowledgment of the individual designers.
As a general rule, e-NABLE does not charge money for the services or devices offered. Most e-NABLE design licenses include a non-commercial clause, preventing the use of the design for commercial purposes.
e-NABLE Volunteers
- e-NABLE volunteers should be familiar with Safety Guidelines for e-NABLE Devices and should make recipients aware of them.
- Volunteers should always have recipients sign a Release and Waiver of Liability and Hold Harmless Agreement. If the recipient is under the age of 18, their parent or legal guardian must sign the release.
- Volunteers should always recommend that a recipient family get their medical provider, OT, PT or Prosthetist involved in the process.
- e-NABLE volunteers who are producing e-NABLE devices should be familiar with the proper methods of sizing and fitting the devices.
- The basic method of sizing (using a single measurement across the width of the palm) is imprecise and often leads to poorly fitting devices. The preferred method is to use a program like Blender to overlay 3D models of the device onto a properly scaled photo of the recipient’s limb, as Peter Binkley demonstrates in this video series.
- You can also use software like NetFabb to compare measurements of your scaled e-NABLE device parts to the measurements taken from the recipient. See this video for a tutorial. Note that Autodesk offers a free license for educational use.
- Volunteers are highly encouraged (but not required) to take advantage of our Digital Badge Awards program to demonstrate proficiency in producing e-NABLE devices. Any badges you earn will be displayed on your e-NABLE Web Central profile screen, making it more likely for you to be approved for helping with cases.
- Taking measurements and fitting a device is best done in person when possible. For this reason, it is preferable that volunteers avoid working with recipients who are too far away to meet with in person, unless no other options are available to that recipient.
- Whenever possible, volunteers should help recipients to find a nearby e-NABLE chapter through the chapter map and help to connect the recipient with the nearest chapter.
- If you do work with a recipient remotely because no other options are available to that recipient, be careful when exchanging sensitive information or photographs.
- Remember, that email is inherently insecure, so avoid sending sensitive information or photos via email.
- Using Enable Web Central, you can exchange photos and other information in a secure manner.
- As an alternative, you can store photos or other sensitive information in a secured folder on Google Drive and share them with the appropriate individuals from there.
- When meeting with a recipient, always meet in a public place - not at the recipient’s home or the volunteer’s home.
- When the recipient is a child, a parent or guardian must always be present for the entirety of any meeting.
- When the recipient is a child, all electronic communications (email, hangouts, chat, etc.) should be with the parent. e-NABLE volunteers should never communicate directly with a child recipient unless the parent or guardian is present.
- Always protect the privacy of your recipients. Do not share any personal information or personally identifiable photos without explicit permission. Do not post a recipient’s full name, email address, location or other contact information online.
- Do not share photos or videos of your recipients until they have signed a Photo-Video Release Agreement. If the recipient is under the age of 18, their parent or legal guardian must sign the release.
- Volunteers should make an effort to stay current on e-NABLE’s latest recommended device designs and methods, as they are constantly evolving. Monitor the e-NABLE Devices Catalog, subscribe to the e-NABLE Newsletter, and check the e-NABLE Hub frequently for updates.
- If volunteers are interviewed by people in the media, it is important to give proper credit to the e-NABLE community. Ask that they include mention of e-NABLE and a link to enablingthefuture.org in any article or video they produce. This work has been made possible thanks to the efforts of many volunteers that came before you, and it’s important to recognize their contributions. Often, the person producing the article or video will want to make it sound like the person they’re interviewing is solely responsible for the work being done (they may feel like it makes a better story), so it’s important to stress the importance of including e-NABLE’s name and website.
- While not required for all recipients, volunteers are encouraged to pursue Youth Protection Training and a Criminal Background Check. Catholic schools and some Scout groups require this, so only volunteers meeting these criteria will be matched with recipients in such cases.
e-NABLE Chapters
- It is recommended that chapters should always have recipients sign a Release and Waiver of Liability and Hold Harmless Agreement (editable version can be downloaded here). If the recipient is under the age of 18, their parent or legal guardian must sign the release.
- e-NABLE chapters are expected to use the e-NABLE name, including the e-NABLE logo and a link to e-nable.org (which redirects to enablingthefuture.org).
- e-NABLE chapters are expected to give credit to the appropriate individuals for any e-NABLE devices being produced and publicized online. Designers for each e-NABLE design are indicated within the e-NABLE Devices Catalog.
- Anyone starting an e-NABLE Chapter should first have experience as an e-NABLE volunteer. It’s important that you have a basic understanding of how to properly determine device scale and how to fabricate and assemble devices so that you can provide training and guidance for other members of your Chapter.
- e-NABLE Chapters should be open to anyone who wishes to participate. Discrimination of any kind is contrary to the spirit of e-NABLE and is not acceptable.
- e-NABLE Chapters should operate under a unique name that clearly indicates it is an independent chapter of e-NABLE, for example, “e-NABLE Houston, TX Chapter”. Chapters should not present themselves as “e-NABLE” or “Enabling the Future” to avoid causing the chapter to be misperceived as the community as a whole.
- e-NABLE Chapters are encouraged to have their own Facebook page, but that Facebook page should link to the chapter’s own website - not to enablingthefuture.org. It is perfectly acceptable and encouraged to link to enablingthefuture.org from the chapter’s website.
- e-NABLE Chapters should work to provide training for their members, to ensure that all volunteers are familiar with e-NABLE safety guidelines, best practices for fabrication and assembly of devices, and best practices for sizing and fitting devices.
- Always protect the privacy of your recipients. Do not share any personal information or photos without explicit permission. Do not post a recipient’s full name, email address, location or other contact information online.
- Do not share photos or videos of your recipients until they have signed a Photo-Video Release Agreement. If the recipient is under the age of 18, their parent or legal guardian must sign the release.
Hi, the link to Safety Guidelines in item 1 of the e-NABLE Volunteers list on this page isn’t working.